


Character Studies

by centreoftheselights



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Backstory, Character Study, F/M, Gen, Headcanon, Insecurity, Issues, M/M, Season/Series 02
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-23
Updated: 2012-08-26
Packaged: 2017-12-22 20:37:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 4,325
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/917766
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/centreoftheselights/pseuds/centreoftheselights
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A selection of character studies written after the end of Season 2.</p><p>This includes the Victoria Argent backstory which Eaddy Mays confirmed was her headcanon.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Scott McCall

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted [on Tumblr](http://centrumlumina.tumblr.com/tagged/character-study).

He’d always been such a sweet kid.

He’d smile at strangers, and hold the door open for them. He’d do his homework and keep his grades up. He’d cook his mom dinner before she left for the night shift at the hospital.

He loved helping people. He’d got that from his mom, from watching her save the world one long, hard day after another and still smile and swear she’d never dream of doing anything else.

That was why he’d gone to the Animal Hospital, as soon as he was old enough to get a job. He might have made better money somewhere else, but there was more to life than that.

He’d never been able to stand back and watch, not when someone needed himself. It was how he’d met Stiles, cornered by three bigger guys who didn’t like his smart mouth. He’d told them to back off, and got knocked down for his trouble.

It was a stupid move - Stiles told him that afterwards, told him in ninety ways how much of an idiot he had been, ending with a “so next time, just stay out of it” that Scott had automatically responded to with “and just _let_ you get hurt? No way.”

Stiles had called him a lemming for that, and they’d eaten lunch together, and two hours later Stiles had said “thanks” without ever specifying what for, and two months later they’d got those guys back by filling their sports kits with silly string and glitter.

He’d always been loyal, too. It has been his idea to join the lacrosse team, because he thought they owed it to the school. Most of the guys on the team were jerks, and they’d never be more than bench-warmers, but it was enough just for them to be there. To show that, if it came to it, they’d stand up for Beacon Hills.

The bite had changed a lot of things. It had made him more assertive - aggressive, even. He wasn’t the kid with asthma any more, bottom of the pecking order. He couldn’t lash out at a bully without thinking, or he might seriously hurt someone.

But he never stopped caring. He never stopped looking for a way to help the people who needed it. He never stopped protecting those he loved.

And one day, that was what would make him a great alpha.


	2. Allison Argent

She had to find her own road.

Ever since she was a little kid, her parents had dragged her from town to town. She’d just be getting comfortable, when suddenly, it was time to move again. She felt like she’d lived her life in the backseat, with her life in a cardboard box beside her and the friends disappearing in the rear view mirror.

Beacon Hills had made her believe that their might be another way. For once, she’d found something worth keeping, and she’d rushed into it, terrified that it might be taken away at any moment.

And it had been, but not in the way that she’d expected.

At first, when her world had been turning upside down, she’d thought that maybe it wasn’t so bad having her dad at the wheel. But it wasn’t enough. She wanted to feel like she did when she held a bow: powerful, in control, like she could do anything. She didn’t want to feel afraid, hear her heart pounding in her ears, taste the bile rising in her throat, know that there was nothing she could do to stop it.

The world was a scary place, and that wasn’t going to change. What needed to change was her.

She’d thought Gerard was offering her a turn in the driving seat, but she was wrong. He had manipulated her and it had nearly cost her everything. This was a dangerous place for someone still learning, and the risk wasn’t to her alone.

So she had to distance herself. Find some space to make mistakes. The world might keep pulling the rug out from under her, but she was learning to roll with the blows. One day soon, she would land on her feet.

So as much as she loved Scott, she had to get herself right first, to learn who she was and where she was going.

When she had, maybe they could go there together.


	3. Stiles Stilinski

He is what other people have made of him.

Because his brain is just made up of everything. Stupid, random facts he read somewhere once and ridiculous ideas which could never really happen and smart alec remarks which spill out of his mouth without him even thinking about them. One day he can’t stop thinking about something, but the next he can’t even remember what it was. It moves to fast to follow. If something is only in his brain, it hardly even counts.

What counts is: when he says something smart and confuses the guys who shove past him in the hallways. When he sees a strange connection and his dad breaks the case. When he works out how to sneak out, and he and Scott laugh in the moonlight. That’s what defines him.

So in return, he does his homework when his dad insists. He sits on the bench at every lacrosse game because Scott dragged him along to try-outs. And he doesn’t say a word to Lydia, not ever, because it’s easier to think she can’t see than that she just doesn’t like the view.

Because all he needs is to keep them around, and safe, and then everything’s fine.

He doesn’t even realise it’s a lie until Peter offers him the bite. Because there is one thing he wants, and he didn’t even realise it. He wants to be something in his own right. He wants to be Batman for a change.

It would change him. Scott doesn’t even seem to see how different he’s been lately, how he’s turning into someone new. He’s stonger, faster, better than Stiles now. This would put them on equal footing again - pack brothers.

(Maybe even better - is ADD like asthma?)

But it’s all an illusion. Werewolf wouldn’t be something he’d become - it would be what Peter had made him. And if there’s one thing Stiles can still choose, it’s who he lets make him what he is.

Besides, Scott needs someone to remind him how to be human. And why break the habit of a lifetime?


	4. Stiles and Lydia

He’s always had a good imagination.

He doesn’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad one. On the one hand, he’d probably have gone insane if he didn’t, but there was a part of him which never really stopped believing in things like werewolves and that’s helped. On the other, there are days when he could really do without the mental images of “the worst that could possibly happen.”

And then there’s her.

She’s been his fantasy for as long as he can remember. The perfect girl, who one day is going to turn around and see something great in him. The one who’s pretty and smart and breathtaking in every way.

The one who doesn’t know he exists.

He’d imagined every possible situation. How she’d laugh at the joke she overheard. How she’d smile when they finally spoke to each other. How she’d look at him like he was something special and wonder aloud why it had taken her so long to see it.

The reality turned out not to be like that.

She turned up at his door and didn’t seem to care that he was hurt. She was frantic with worry about Jackson. It was Jackson she had looked at with eyes full of love, exactly how he’d always pictured they would look.

This time, it really was all in his head.

Sometimes, having a good imagination sucked.


	5. Lydia Martin

She’d always known how to present herself.

It had started when she was a little girl. Playing happy, so her parents wouldn’t fight over who’d upset her. Playing calm when there was tension in their voices. Playing deaf when the whispers turned to shouts.

She’d learned different roles after they split up. Learned how to be mommy’s angel Monday to Friday and daddy’s sweetheart at the weekend. Learned to smile through her stepmother’s cooking and through her mom’s boyfriend watching the game. Learned how to be everyone’s favourite.

After that, high school had been easy. It just took the right mix of airhead and tyrant, keeping everyone at arm’s length. Looking perfect wasn’t hard, not if you had the right formula.

But that didn’t mean she was perfect.

When it all started falling apart, when she started seeing things that weren’t real, at first she thought she was going crazy. But that didn’t ring true. She still cared about her life, her image - she just didn’t know what was real any more.

Perhaps nothing ever had been.

Allison knew something - they all did. But she’d played her roles too well. No-one wanted the Queen Bee around, poised to sting. They didn’t see her going out of her mind, trying to figure things out.

Well, she was smart. She could work it out on her own. It was just time for a new part - the girl who could cope with all of this. Who would play along to get the monster out of her head. Who seemed to understand just enough that someone would let their guard down, someone would tell her what she needed to know.

It would be a long performance, but she could handle it.

She’d been acting her whole life.


	6. Lydia and Jackson

It was only meant to be a hook-up.

It was just another bit of good publicity. The basketball team had lost a few games, but the lacrosse players had a great season. So it was time to move on. It was what she did, being seen to be with the best.

They hadn’t spoken much, but that was nothing new. It wasn’t like they would have a lot in common if they did. Neither of them was looking for a _relationship._

Then Jackson had given her that key, and she’d started staying over more. Keeping clothes there. Started coming over in the day, too. Sometimes, if he had lacrosse the next day, if he needed to sleep, they wouldn’t do anything. She’d just lie there with his arm around her, feeling strangely happy.

But Jackson had been on the way out, and Scott had been the next big thing. Jackson was moving on with Allison. It only seemed logical.

She hadn’t realised, not until those harsh words had wiped her brain clean of retorts and she had stood there in the hallway, gaping. He wasn’t just a hookup. Hookups didn’t hurt like this.

Even though he seemed to hate her, even though she felt sure that he didn’t feel the same, even though that knowledge tore her heart into shreds every time she saw him - she wouldn’t have given up a moment of it. The feeling she had in his arms had been worth it all.

But she wished they had talked while she still had the chance.


	7. Jackson Whittemore

He always knew there was something wrong with him.

He didn’t get on well with the other kids. Didn’t ‘play well with others.’ While they all had fun together, it would be him and Danny alone, the kids no-one wanted in the game. At first he’d bought all of that grade school crap about everyone being special, but a part of him knew. He didn’t fit right.

Finding out he was adopted just confirmed it, but it also gave him a goal. He had to earn his place here, had to make himself belong. So he learned how to be the guy everyone wanted. How to be popular, if not liked. Good at what he did, if not actually _good._

But it was all so small-scale, so meaningless, so _high school_. There might be moments when he felt right - when he was hanging out with Danny, scoring in lacrosse, kissing Lydia - but they never lasted long. He couldn’t make it stick.

When he worked out about McCall, he thought he’d found the solution. The bite was something real, something permanent. If he didn’t fit in this world, he would find his place in another. He would belong in the pack.

He should have known that it would all go wrong, that he couldn’t even be _cursed_ right. It was bad enough when he’d thought it just hadn’t worked. But now…

Now, he was losing himself. He’d wake up halfway through a conversation with no idea how he’d got there. Days would disappear without him realising. His humanity was falling away from him, a little more gone every time he looked.

And in its place was the monster he’d always known he really was.


	8. Danny Mahealani

He didn’t understand what had happened.

He’d gotten a little distracted for a few weeks while he was dating his cheating scumbag bastard of an ex. But, after the discovery of said cheating, scumbaggery and bastardness, he’d thought his life would go back to normal.

He’d thought wrong.

Lydia and Jackson had broken up. He had been aware of that, but he hadn’t realised that the breakup had apparently pushed Lydia off of her meds or something. Now she was screaming in English class and walking naked through the woods and in all other ways had turned herself into a toxic asset on the friendship market.

It was freaky, but in every way not his problem. Lydia was Allison’s mess to deal with. He was, by definition, on Jackson’s side, and more than equipped to commiserate over sucky exes.

Except Jackson seemed to have check out completely. He had known the guy for a while, and well… there were some issues. He’d had to talk Jackson through a couple of crises, and Jackson had returned the favour. But this was a whole new level of messed up. Half the time, it felt like his best friend was looking right through him.

They’d used to be the lacrosse guys. But now Jackson didn’t seem to care about anything. Scott and Stiles barely bothered to show up to practises. Even new kid hotshot-out-of-nowhere Isaac was prone to vanishing. It felt like the team was falling apart.

It felt like his life was falling apart.

(This was all his ex’s fault. If it hadn’t been for that cheating scumbag bastard, he would have been there to keep Jackson on the rails. Next time he got the chance, he was going to punch him in the face.)


	9. Derek Hale

He was never meant to be the alpha.

Before the fire, he’d just been a kid. He hadn’t thought about who led the pack, or how they did it. He’d cared about grades and girls and getting his licence. Stupid, meaningless things.

The day his world had burned, Laura had felt it first, had known something was wrong. She’d felt herself becoming the alpha before they even knew what had happened. Neither of them had believed it until they saw the ashes, and then she had turned to him as said “looks like it’s just you and me, kid.”

You couldn’t really have a pack of two, but they had tried. They’d watched out for each other, had each others backs - because who else could they trust in this town? And he’d listened to his alpha, his sister, obeyed when she’d told him to go back to school, graduate, keep his head down and let her figure this out.

She’d been trying to protect him. She swore she’d explain when she had something concrete. But she’d died before she got the chance.

He hadn’t thought past killing the person who had done that to her, hadn’t considered what would happen when she was avenged. He’d known he would be the alpha, but that just felt right. After all, he was the only one of the old pack left.

He hadn’t realised how difficult it would be to lead the pack. He didn’t know half of what he should have done, and he didn’t have time to explain any of it. There was too much danger, everywhere - and it was his responsibility to protect them from it. He was supposed to keep them safe.

He’d chosen kids because he thought it would be easier. He’d thought they would believe easier, listen more, challenge him less. He’d thought they might win over Scott, who found it so natural to soothe tempers where Derek just rubbed them the wrong way.

But he’d failed, screwed up, lost everything. Scott would never join him. Isaac trusted Scott more. Erica and Boyd had simply left - but they were still his pack, his responsibility if their ignorance got them killed. He hadn’t had a plan, and his pack had paid the price.

Sometimes, he looked at Peter and wondered why he’d ever thought he could lead anything.


	10. Isaac Lahey

He was still waiting for the other shoe to drop.

At first it had been everything he wanted. He belonged in the pack. He was powerful, protected. He could walk down the halls with Erica and know that no-one would ever push them down again.

Then the kanima had appeared.

Suddenly there was danger everywhere, and the pack felt like it was breaking apart around him. The way Derek looked at them made him nervous. He tried to tell himself that the anger was at the threat, that his alpha would protect him - but he could help but wonder, if Derek lashed out, would he even be able to defend himself?

Sometimes, as the alpha barked orders and told them nothing, Erica would catch his eye, and he knew what she was thinking: _there are other packs_. He’d been just about to give up when he’d spoken to Scott.

He’d gone on a whim, because Scott had been a beta longer than any of them, and had a knack of getting Derek to listen. He hadn’t expected to hear anything new. But then, what he’d found had been completely unexpected.

Derek might tell him not to screw up, but Scott looked at him like he knew what he was doing. Like he could make something other than mistakes. Derek had told him he could be something powerful, but Scott made him feel like he might be someone good.

And for the first time, he believed everything might work out fine.


	11. Erica Reyes

She just wanted people to look at her.

Her. Not “the freak” or “the loser.” The one who was only noticed for being broken, who was invisible when she wasn’t an outcast. “That epileptic girl,” even to her teachers, even to kids she’d grown up with. That was how the world saw her before.

She wanted people to look at her like they did at Allison, at Lydia. The look of longing and desperation and seething, burning jealousy. Like there was something magic which could make you pretty and popular and perfect, and they would do anything to find out what it was.

Well, she has the secret ingredient now.

A pack is like a ready-made clique. You already share the biggest secret of your lives, so what else is there? Isaac was a ready-made best friend, striding beside her with that sly smirk that revelled in the stares they received. Boyd was shy at first, but she’d found that he made her laugh. Together, they could rule this school.

It was all she’d ever wanted. But it wasn’t enough any more.

School wasn’t the limits of her world like it had been. There was a whole new world, of moonlight and mountain ash and silver arrowheads. Among her own kind, Isaac and Boyd might treat her as equals, but to everyone else they were just the pack. Derek’s betas. Nothing without him.

She hated being nothing.

It was bad enough when the hunters acted that way, when Scott and even _Stiles_ looked down their noses at her for choosing a strong leader. But the worst was Derek. He didn’t trust a single one of them. He didn’t think they could handle themselves. When he looked at her, he was still seeing that scared girl in the morgue, wondering how long it was until she was the one in the body bag.

She couldn’t seem to earn his respect, and she couldn’t stand the way he looked at her like all there was to her was the past.

So she was going to find a new future.


	12. Boyd

He knew how to handle himself.

That was what he meant, when he told Scott “I want to be like you.” He’d wanted to play it smart, think tactically, remain calm under fire. Watching Derek’s pack, it was clear to him that they needed that much.

He hadn’t realised that Derek thought they already had it.

He would have done anything for the pack. They were the first time he’d belonged in a long time. The first time he’d meant something to someone. The first time he had something to fight for.

He could have kept the situation under control when Derek was busy. He could have shown Erica and Isaac how to do things the clever way, instead of by brute force. He could have planned out a strategy, given them something to work with.

He _knew_ he could have been a great second in command.

But Derek didn’t trust him. No, worse - it didn’t even occur to Derek that he should. Derek didn’t consider the possibility.

Because Derek was still waiting for Scott.


	13. Chris Argent

He only wanted to protect her.

He’d watched Kate being raised in the life. Watched her grow up with the knowledge that she was destined to lead, no matter what. The little sister who could boss him around, who could do whatever she wanted and leave him to deal with the consequences. Who could do no wrong, because she could define herself as right.

He hadn’t wanted Allison to end up like that.

So he hadn’t told her. He’d waited for her to be older, more responsible, more able to deal with it.

It was so easy to keep telling himself “just a while longer.” Another year, then she’d be ready. But for now, she was still his little girl.

He didn’t realise the mistake he was making until it was already too late.

It hurt more than he’d imagined possible, to see her fall into this knowledge unprepared. To see the doubts he’d given her. To see her fall into the traps he should have warned her would be waiting.

But after it was all over, after there was nothing left but the two of them, she looked at him and he saw his mistake.

She was ready to face anything.


	14. Victoria Argent

She hadn’t been born into this life.

Once, she’d been a normal kid living a normal life, never dreaming what waited in the dark.

The night that all changed - after her best friend lay bloody and mangled on the forest floor, after she’d seen the thing that did it shot down and the human body it left, after she’d caught a glimpse of her boyfriends face disappearing through the trees - after all that, among the ambulance sirens and the bright headlights of the police cars, they told her it had been a bear attack.

She had vowed not to rest until she found out the truth.

She spent hours in the library, back before Google had made everything available at the touch of a button. She had scoured manuscripts with a Latin dictionary in one hand and a strong coffee in the other. She had listed every possible explanation, and crossed them through one by one, until there was nothing else left.

And then one evening in Chris’s bedroom, she had turned to him and smiled and asked: “So, what do you know about werewolves?”

And he had said “I thought you’d never ask.”

That day, she became part of the family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Confirmed by Eaddy Mays](http://eaddymays.tumblr.com/post/30515540439/the-slow-dance-of-the-infinite-stars-characterstudy) as being very close to her personal backstory for the character.


	15. Kate Argent

She could do anything.

She’d always been told her family were liberal, letting the girls make the decisions. But she didn’t want to stay in the kitchen and let her brother do the dirty work. Tori might be happy to, but that wasn’t her style.

She could handle herself in the field, just as well as any man could.

And she was sick of being told she couldn’t.

She was sick of being asked to rein it in, to step back and let someone else handle it. This was her job, and it had been since the beginning. She might not be the one on point, but she was the expert on the Hale pack.

She wasn’t going to let Chris’s squeamishness keep her from doing what needed to be done.

Most of all, she was sick of seeing Allison scared. Seeing her treated like a scared little girl, like _she_ had been before she’d carved her own path - but worse, not even knowing that she had another option. She knew what her neice was capable of, if they’d only give her a chance.

Allison could do anything too. She just needed someone to show her the way.


	16. Gerard Argent

He’s seen too much.

He’s faced more monsters than he can count. Killed more, too. He’s fought things that he lets his kids believe are fairy tales, because there are some things no-one should know unless they have to.

He’s seen friends turn on each other and siblings tear each other to shreds. He’s seen fangs and claws and poison do their work on human flesh. He’s seen the most innocent-looking people grow fur and scales and feathers

He’s seen his son’s marriage, and his grand-daughter’s christening, and his daughter’s funeral, and he’s lived through it all.

But when he heard those words - “six months at most” - _that_ was the last straw.

The dark side of the world’s been taking chunks out of him for seven decades. It’s about time he started fighting back.


End file.
